RELIGIOUS EDUCATION
National Sorry Day and Reconciliation Week 2024
This year National Sorry Day falls on Sunday 26 May and is a day when we pause to remember the Stolen Generations of Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
It leads us into the Week of Prayer for Reconciliation and National Reconciliation Week which is held each year between 27 May and 3 June.
We will celebrate National Reconciliation Week with a liturgy in the school hall in Week 5 on Wednesday, May 29th at 9am. All family and community members are welcome to attend this special liturgy led by our Year 6 leaders.
The theme for National Reconciliation Week 2024 is, Now More Than Ever.
Feast of the Sacred Heart
In Week 6, we will be celebrating the Feast of the Sacred Heart, a particularly special day for our Franciscan Sisters of the Sacred Heart who continue to be such a special part of our community. We are celebrating Mass on Friday 7th June with the Sisters. All families and parishioners are invited and encouraged to join us at 9am. Please mark it in your calendar!
Spiritual Reflection
Please find attached a spiritual reflection that was shared with staff within the Catholic Diocese of Wollongong:
Seeds of Hope
This week from 19 May to 26 May, the global church celebrates Laudato Si' Week 2024, spanning Pentecost Sunday to the Feast of the Holy Trinity.
Since the release of Pope Francis’ landmark encyclical back in 2015, Catholics worldwide purposely hold an annual celebration of prayer and action that reminds us we all have a role to play in caring for our planet. It is quite fitting that this call to action for the planet is bookended by the remembering of the birthday of the church at Pentecost and the relational connectedness of the Trinity.
Significantly, and not unintentionally, Pope Francis promoted Laudato Si’ on 24 May 2015 — the Feast of Pentecost. The Feast of Pentecost calls the Church to renewal and the Holy Spirit calls us all to ecological conversion. We are called to heal our world and to elevate our vision to truly see all of creation with the eyes of love and compassion. From a Trinitarian perspective, we need to understand that we are called to live and be in relationship with all aspects of God’s creation.
This year’s theme for Laudato Si’ Week is "Seeds of Hope", inspired by last year’s apostolic exhortation, Laudate Deum, from Pope Francis released at the end of last year’s Season of Creation. In this document Pope Francis urges that: "There are no lasting changes without cultural changes [...] and there are no cultural changes without personal changes" (LD 70). Pope Francis is once again highlighting the environmental issues and challenges that we continue to face - one of senseless war on nature and our failure to address the human roots of the social and ecological crisis. It is another wake up call that we need to be attentive to.
Here at St Patrick’s, one of our 4 school values is Environmental Stewardship. Therefore, we believe in our shared responsibility for environmental quality. During Laudato Si’ Week may we be ever more aware and awake. May we plant and be seeds of hope for our world and continue to respond in positive ways to the challenge of Laudato Si’ and Laudate Deum. May this be our prayer…
God of creation,
you have woven an intimate tapestry, and called it life - and called it good.
Guide us that we might not be only pilgrims on the earth,
but pilgrims with the earth,
journeying together toward the fullness of life.
Open our hearts to understand your Living presence in all creation.
With this faith, we hope for tomorrow’s children.
Amen
Kind regards
Miss Casey Figueira
Acting Religious Education Co ordinator
